Board to Death TV: Videographers take to the air waves with board game reviews

The Board to Death TV logo

       In response to my 100th entry on these pages, I received a comment from someone or some thing called “The Board to Death Team.” They were appreciative of the board game reviews I’ve published here and requested that I “keep ‘em coming,” so I was a big fan of this ‘team’ right away, no matter who or what they were. This, of course, led to finding out who they were, which, as it turned out is a team of board game hobbyists, who are producing video reviews of board games on a Web site called. . .wait for it. . Board to Death TV (www.boardtodeath.tv), out of Montreal, Canada.

       The team also requested my feedback on their site and made mention of the fact that if I had opinions about the games they reviewed out there, I should feel free to comment right there on the site. So, off I went to Board to Death TV and found an engaging, slyly humorous Web site and a small, but growing list of video board game reviews. The overall quality of the work can be viewed from two or three angles; the technical side of things, the ‘personality’ side of things (embodied by the dual hosts, Steve Nash and Michaela Di Cesare) and the review quality issue.

        While it’s clear that this is not some multi-million dollar major studio production, the overall quality of what I watched (in particular, their video review of Arkham Horror) was really good. The production utilized moving cameras, image crossovers and screen-in-screen segments that kept the review moving along quite nicely. I learned, subsequently, from the producer/writer/cameraman/editor and chief cook and bottle washer, Vince Luca Caltabiano, that they’ve been picking up a little criticism about the sound quality and a few other niggling points, but this is, after all, a review of a board game, not some documentary or feature film that someone wants to nominate for an Academy Award. Overall, though, and recognizing that the site has been up for less than a week (November 11), and that it will surely improve, the technical side of things is not really an issue. The basics are all there and demonstrates both knowledge and experience with the medium they’ve chosen to ‘talk’ about board games.
 

The Board to Death crew

       The personality side, in the persons of Nash and Di Cesare, is a nice mix and reminded me of any number of TV series, where two characters, male and female, interact in such a way that you question whether or not they’re ever going to ‘get it on’ as a component of the series’ development. Whether they do or don’t isn’t as important as a viewer’s maintained curiosity from week to week. There’s an interplay with these two that speaks of some ‘sub-text.’ They’re comfortable with each other, share a sense of humor and more importantly, seem to know and understand the game of which they speak.

       From the review quality side of things, it seemed (and I wrote this in a personal communication to Caltabiano) that the ‘script’ with which the hosts were working sort of launched into nitty gritty details about the game before the basics of game play had been established. They were commenting about aspects of the game that viewers couldn’t possibly understand without a more foundational awareness of what was going on. Not having played Arkham Horror, I was not in a position to either agree or disagree with their commentary about its value and the rating they gave it at the end. In further consultation, Caltabiano has concurred with my sentiments about this sort of ‘cart before the horse’ way of approaching a video review, which is significantly different than a written review intended for a reading audience. We have, in fact, consulted on an upcoming review of theirs. I went so far as to re-write a script they sent me, not so much as a means of subverting and altering their material, but more as a demonstration of what I was trying to tell them about the ‘logic tree’ sense of presenting a video review.

        Caltabiano, a Montreal native with a degree in media, communications and journalism from Concordia University owns a video production company called Pushplay Productions, of which Board to Death TV is now a branch. The company makes its bread and butter from wedding, baptism and corporate videos (thus, the professional gleam to its efforts in the board game review field). Pushplay also produces a Web show called Pushplay TV which conducts interviews with Montreal artists. The productions are videographed in a local photography studio, owned by a member of the Board to Death staff (Giuliano Corola).
 

Screen shot of the Board to Death TV's opening page

       Caltabiano was actually more of a fan of video games, when a ‘buddy’ (Joe Capano) introduced him to the wonderful world of board games. With his background in video, and following a few lively discussions about some of the games to which he was being introduced, the idea for Board to Death TV emerged, and the rest, as they say is history. They’re looking into ways to further finance the project, which is presently being funded out of their own pockets. They were particularly appreciative of a $10 donation they received on the Web site, which, though it didn’t fund a whole hell of a lot, was certainly in the category of it being the thought that counted.

       Caltabiano’s girlfriend, who was looking for ways to write about her expertise and interest in the field of cooking, stumbled upon the Examiner site and when Caltabiano asked her if there were any board game Examiners, she came up with my name, which led to his comment about the 100th entry and the beginning of (perhaps) a mutually beneficial relationship. As noted, there are not, at this point, a great number of reviews to choose from at this site, but they will grow in number, and presumably, quality as the staff gets more comfortable with the process. I’ll be checking in with the site every once in a while, because I was impressed by the quality of the initial product, the sort of ‘friendly neighborhood reviewer’ sense I got from the hosts, and my general curiosity and interest in board game reviews. That interest is what got me started here and it’s what fuels the productions there.

       Take a look. It’s fun and offers a terrific glimpse of a few games you might be considering for your holiday shopping list.